Power-developing apparatus or mechanism for utilizing the weight of water



.18, w.-F. WITT mm mavswrme APPARATUS 0R mscmmsm FOR pmmzme THE WEIGHTOF WATER Filed Nov. 23. 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug, 18. 1925.

w. F. wm' rowzamavamrme APPARATUS on MECHANISM FOR UTILIZING was WEIGHTor ran Filed Nov. 28. 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 2' I [mam m- @7 70? Z W/f 11;:LII/011 w. FQWI'TT IOIRR DEVELOPING APPARATUS OR MECHANISM FOR UTILIZINGTHE WEIGHT- OF WATER Filed Nov. 28. 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Aug. 18,1925..

W. F. WlTT POWER DEVELOPING APPARATUS OR IECHANISI FOR UTILIZING THEWEIGHT OF WATER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Jar fr /raga Patented Aug. 18, 1925,

STAT PATENT arms.

WILLIAM F; WIT'i, onomo'eeo; ILLINOIS;

POWER-DEVELOPING. ePraRATns on MEcn'ANIsM FO'R UTILIZING THE. WEIGHT ori WATER.

Application filed November 28, 1924. Serial No. 752,549.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1;, WILLIAM If. VVITT, a citizen of the United States,and-a resident of the city o tChicago, county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Power-DevelopingApparatus or Mechanism for Utilizing the Veight of Water, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to a novel power developing apparatus or mechanismfor utilizing the weight/of water, (especially water which isnormallypermitted to flow away and the pressure of which is no longer utilized),for developing power and particularlyfor compressing air with which todo ork a The particular type of my invention illustrated is well adaptedtouse the spent or waste waters from large buildings, as

fromthe drinking fountains, wash basins or the like, which water will beconducted from one or more of the usual outlet pipes to the receivingreservoir of my apparatus which is preferably stationed in a lower partof such building; but this apparatus may equally as well be operatedwith water from a flowing stream, or the like, situated at a higherlevel than my receiving reservoir. It is my object to provide amechanism for utilizing the weight of such water to do work therewith orfor compressing air with which to do work.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangements of partshereinafter de scribed and claimed;

'The invention will, be best understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawings forming-a part of this specification, and in which Fig. l is avertical sectional view of my apparatus, showing the members in positionat an early stage'of the cycle of operation;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the members at a succeeding stage;

Fig: 3 shows the main operating memhers 'at nearly the final stage ofoperation;

Fig; 4.; is a plan view taken on line ,4-4: gLQQQM. a r

Fig. 5 is an inverted plan view taken on line 55 of'Fig. 1.

In the drawings I have shown the preferred form of constructionembodyingmy invention, whiclr comprises a, reservoir 10 ofsuitable sizeandmaterial which may be open; or closed, and which is preferablyplzlcedzin a lower part of a building, as in the basement, being,mounted'near the-upper part or -:eiling,1l-ot such basementby the use ofsupporting standards 12fastened to the basementfloor 13." leads'intosaid reservoir and is connected with a sourceof water supplyas forinstance the discharge conduits-leading from the va rious drinkingfountains, wash basins, etcetera in-said-building, or is, connected withany other-suitable water supply: An outlet port 15 and a-"conduitlG arepro vided nearthe top ofsaid reservoir'to prevent overflowing thereofand to lead'away any surplus water.

A feed tank 17 is mounted near reservoir 10, and lower than the same, asby means of cross bars IS-and diagonal braces 19" fastened to standards12, while a'pipe 20 A conduit 14 s with acontrol valve 21 conducts waterfrom" s a floating tank 30 is mounted'within tank 25 to move freely upand down therein with thewater insaid tanks, and buoyant m'em-* bers 3 1and 32, like hollow annular rings or members of floatablematerial,"areprovided in tank 30' to make it float" normally on'thewaterin tank 25. The anniil'ar'm'ember '32 is provided with pins 32mounted inlugs 30V to slide upwardly therein and raisesaid member fromthe bottom of the tank (see Figffi)", said memb'erbeing also arranged toform a valve opening 33 PLOVltlillf communication between the interiors0t tanks 25 and 30, said valves being closed by a weighted stem orplunger 3% slidably mounted in a bracket in tank 30; and a pipe 36 witha control valve 37 conducts the water when required "from 'l'eed tank 1?into floating tank 30.

The means for operating or lifting the weighted valve stem or plungerincludes a cable 38 attached thereto and to a bar 39 pivoted on abracket arm 40, said bar beingactuated by a cable l1 attached to it andextending); from said bar over pulleys l2 on the ceiling; 11, and havinga handle or grip $3 at its end. Said bar 39 is connected by a link 4-4with a collapsible air container or case mounted orsupp rt 46 on floor13, and connected by a pipe t? with a collapsible air container or case48 mounted in the lower part or tank 25, and an inlet pipe %9 with acontrol valve 50 are provided for admitting air into said cases 45 and48. The alternate eI-Ipanding and collapsing of container 48, duerespectively to the alternate decreasing; and increasing weight of waterin tanks 25 and 20, and the consequent alternate collapsing and eX-pandinp; of container l5, is also mainly in strumental in raising andlowering respectively the plunger 84; from valve seat 32 at the properstages of operation.

The means for transferring and utilizing the power developed through thewaste water by the movement of tank 30 includes a lever or powertransferring member 51 pivoted with one end to an ear 52 on said tank,and fulerumed with its other end to a rod 53 mounted in diagonal braces19, said lever bein pivoted with its intermediate portion to an arm 54-on an air compressor 55 mounted on a support 56. An inlet pipe 57 with aone-way valve 58 is provided on said compressor, and said compressor ispreferably also connected by a pipe with a one-way valve 60 to a storagetank or air reservoir 61 which is srovided with a dis charge pipe 62 andcontrol valve 63 for using the compressed air whenever desired.

Further means provided for utilizing theweight of said water in tank 30,for additionally operating said air compressor therewith. This meansincludes a collapsible air container G l mounted under the bottom oftank 30, and preferably in a groove or niche therein, said air containerbeina connected by iieans of a pliable hose and interposed control valve66 to the air container 22 in tank 17.

In operation the reservoir 10 is substantially filled through theconstant addition of water through pipe 1st, and any surplus water isrun off through the discharge pipe 16 to the sewer or any convenientplace The feed tank 17 is filled from the reservoir by opening valve 2i,and when said tank is tilled thovalve is closed, and the apparatus issubstantially in the condition shown in l oi? the d rawing s. The weightof the water tank 3]," compre s the air in conniner which air passesthrough the open "e and through hose 35 down into the annular container(3%; located at the ooitoin ot'l'ioatingta v. El ,thereby expanding saidcontainn'. i 10 valve (511 is then closed and valve 5? on o pipe 15 i:-;opened to transfer the water teed tank 17 into floating tank 30, saidring tank swimming or lioctin upon the water normally retained in thelower as shown in transferred fro inp; tank, the latter \illl descendunder the weight of said water, d during this doscent of the iloatin itcarries with it lever 51 and operates the COlHPlGSSOl 55 forcing airthrough the one-way valve 60 into the air container or reservoir (31.Valve is then opened to permit the air from annular container 6 which isnow under ire by the weight of water in tank 50, o travel upwa"d intoair container and expand the same in the empty teed tank 17,

l. but "Filth the water teed tank to sai d floathe apparatus being thensubstantially in re position shown in Fig. 2. This diso oi? air from thecontainer (3&- and the collapsing thereoi enables the :end an additionalactuate lever 51 and t and fur the plun er r w er 7 Z 2. i no v d chargevalve 28 is l opened to permit v; 1 o be discharged iron; tank 2a, andabei .ns tnne the grip or handle men or l3 is given a slight downvr irdpull to hit plunger Zi-l from valve seat or ius permitting the water to.i tank 30 through opening discharge valve 28, and by b :t water anddecrease of presthe collapsible air container -i-8,

su e upon tins container will automatically expand,

while its on :EllilllClitli'lf; container gradually therebysubstantially automatij bar all; and upward to retain it raised from its1 y ;l s the water from floating tank 00 sulr-tantially decreased, thefloatnreinber or valve seat 3 will move up- ,vardly tron; the bottompart o't tank 30, permitting? the water to discharge rapinto the 25, theplunger being at time at its uppermost position, and all the elementsbeing; substantially in the posiart of discharge tank 1 tion shown inFig. '3; whereupondischarge valve 28is closed .andvalve21 is opened andwater .is run into the feed .tank 17 filling the same and placingtheapparatus in the position shown in said Fig. 3,.said valve 21 being thenagain closed. Thereafter valve 66 is opened and the water in tank 17 ispermitted to collapse the air container 22 in said tank and force saidair into the annular container 64.- at the bottom of floating tank 30,whereupon the valve 66 is closed, and the entire apparatus is againsubstantially in the position shown in Fig. 1 toagain pass through itscycle of operation.

It is thus seen that the weight of water is used in floating tank 30 tooperate directly on the air compressor 55, and furthermore that thecompressibility of air is furthermore utilized by the use of thecollapsible communicating air containers 64 and 22 which are actuatedalternately by the weight of water in tanks 30 and 17 to do anadditional amount of work.'

lVhile I have illustrated and described the preferred form ofconstruction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable ofvariation and modification without departing from the spirit of theinvention. 1, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precisedetails of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of suchvariations and modifications as come within the scope of the appendedclaims.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. An apparatus including a discharge tank, a float tank, means forfeeding water to the latter, power transferring means connected to saidfloat tank, and collapsible air containing means in said float tankarranged to be collapsed for actuating said power transferring means bymeans of said float tank.

2. An apparatus including a discharge tank, a float tank, a feed tank tofeed water to said float tank, power transferring means connected tosaid float tank, and communicating air containing means in said feedtank and said float tank operable for actuating said float tank andthereby said power transferring means.

3, An apparatus including a discharge tank with a float tank therein andcommunicating therewith, a compressible air container in said floattank, a feed tank feeding water to said float tank, a collapsible aircontainer in said feed tank, a power trans ferring member actuated bythe movement of said float tank, and valve-controlled means connectingsaid air containers to be operated for actuating said float tank and itsair container for operating said member.

4. An apparatus including a discharge tank with a float tank therein, avalve and in said air containers to be operated for actuating said floattank and its air container for operating saidmember. i

5. An apparatus including a discharge tank. with a float tank therein, afeed tank for feeding water to said float tank, communicatingcollapsible air containing means in said feed tank and said float tank,a collapsible air container in said discharge tank, a collapsible aircontainer adjacent said discharge tank and connected with the aircontainer in said tank, valve means providing communication between saidfloat tank and said discharge tank, operative connections between saidvalve means and the air container adjacent said discharge tank, valvemeans for discharging water from said discharge tank, a control valvefor controlling the exchange of air between the collapsibleaircontainers within the feed tank and the floating tank, and powertransferring means connected to said float tank and actuated by theweight of water upon the manipulation of the valves. I

6. In combination with a building having waste water conveying means, anapparatus mounted in said building and including a reservoir forreceiving'waste water from said conveying means, a discharge tank with afloat tank therein, a feed tank connected to said reservoir for feedingwater therefrom to said float tank, valve controlled connections betweensaid tanks and reservoir, and power transferring means operated by themovement of said float tank.

7. An apparatus including an upper water tank and a lower dischargetank, a floating tank in the latter, valve controlled means forconveying water from the upper tank t the floating tank, a collapsibleair container in each of said tanks, a conduit with a control valveconnecting said air containers, and power transferring means connectedto and operated by said floating tank by collapsing of the air containerin said floating tank under the water pressure.

8. An apparatus including a discharge tank with a float tank therein, afeed tank with valve controlled means for discharging water therefrominto said float tank, valve means to provide communication between saidfloat tank and discharge tank, a valve in said discharge tank,collapsible air containers in said float tank and said feed tank, apower transferring lever connected to said floattank to be operatedthereby, means for opening the valve between said float tank anddischarge tank to permit the Water from said float tank LO pass throughsaid discharge tank when the Valve therein is opened 5 in order toactuate said float tank and said lever, and a Valve controlled conduitconnecting said collapsible air containers for permitting the air topass -from the container in said float tank under the Weight of Water insaid tank to operate the float tank 10 and the lever thereby.

In testimony Wh'ereoi I have signed my name to this specification.

WILLIAM F. \VIT '1.

